And now you see why we like this world’s batman. We also have seen some descent logic. Get the villain away from a large area. Put him in a difficult situation and then rinse and repeat until you find to deal with it. Sure the rest of the heroes could confine him to a park, but that wouldn’t stop any of the chaos and destruction he was causing. (especially if he had atomic breath or something much less the wizard/demi god on his back/head)

I think most of the FISSes would make for a better Atlas. And those jerks couldn’t solve it on their own. They never learned what both schools seem to be teaching directly or indirectly: powers don’t make the hero or villain.

That isn’t right. You say “the Common folk”, but personally this is more like “The servants” or “The peasants” or how the victor von family describes people who aren’t them. Common people at least refers some respect saying their people. The others are much more demeaning… unless someone else can find a term even more demeaning than the ones above. Also I’m willing to bet the non-FISS package heroes will still get the credit for it.

If you think “common folk” implies respect, I refer you to the Middle Ages, when a peasant could be executed for stealing from the nobility. If you ever wondered why Beauty’s father was almost killed for taking a rose without permission…

Saddest part is those two non-FISS actually think they’re Super-heroes instead of just snobs who clearly do what they do for public recognition and possibly the endorsement deals rather than out of an honest desire to help others.

While it would be disproportionate retribution if as someone else noted Argosian non-FISS behaved like that it’s no wonder they finally got fed up with it and eliminated them.

It’s possible they have laws regulating that sort of thing, so you’d have to be a Corporate Super to rate a particular company logo, rather than being able to be an advertising billboard and instead look professional. So they instead have their distinct costume that they then market like toylines or video games (like the video game watches we see in the Rainmaker arc with Tyler’s parents’ likenesses on them).

Amusingly I almost said something similar, although more along the lines that Zodon could and probably already is a better hero than those non-FISS twits. Even his attitude towards Tyler was more of a ‘tough love’ kind of thing, rightly seeing how dangerous it was for him as a non-powered human to be forced to be in such high danger situations. He just didn’t have all the data to know that a non-powered human can do the job, with the right training and gear.

But if you want to really rate how bad those non-FISS are as heroes, Forak’s likely to be a better hero than them since he at least knows how it feels to be the bottom guy living in fear of his more powerful ‘betters’ and is trying to learn how to make things better as a result.

I have my doubts about Foraks experience being a benefit to him as a super. Experiencing being the bottom guy can have the sort of effect that you mention (inspiring one with empathy and trying to make things better), however often it has the reverse effect. That is when given power people who have such experiences become the bully/oppressor.

Examples abound – the old saw about boss yells at you, you yell at spouse, spouse yells at kids, kids yell at the dog. Similar for minorities, economically disadvantaged, class hierarchies, etc.

Well as we’ve seen of Forak’s personality it’s not one of someone who’d go the bad route, if he were suited to that he’d have been terrorizing the non-powered humans on his world so he could feel like he had some power but we’ve seen no indication he was ever like that. Indeed he knuckles under to anyone with authority no matter how powerless they are and actually has shown signs of idolizing 84 so is trying to learn from her.

The biggest irony here is how the non-FISS snobs see themselves as being above FISS metas while failing to realize that it’s the FISS metas that actually fix the problem and not them. The ice queen there may lament that she sacrificed her convention appearance pay to save a city, but did she actually save the city? No.

Then all the more reason for her not to complain at all. She got to attend to her superhero duties without losing her pay. As it stands, she’s still saying she’d rather not be there. (“Good thing my fees aren’t refundable, or this would’ve been a total loss.” – still means she considers trying to protect the city and save Bertram a loss, not total, but a loss nonetheless.)

In the PS238 universe, what if the superpower lottery left you without the “F” in the FISS set? You’re invulnerable, super-strong and super-fast but can’t fly. You’re Superman grounded.

Practically and tactically, not having Flight is a loss compared to having the full FISS set. However, you can still get around and do a lot: remember how Captain Clarinet and the Whiz tried to take out the Rainmaker when the latter attacked the school? Or, for that matter, without Flight, 84 may still have been competing directly with the Whiz in their race? Having used the phrase “Superman grounded”, remember the times Supes would race the Flash?

Socially, I wonder how the stuck-up non-FISS would treat an ISS? Or how would FISS metas look at an ISS?

Heroically, it wouldn’t matter: The point is to be someone people need rather than someone people want (to paraphrase Julie’s more confident inner self).

(And, villainously, an ISS would still mean one scary and effective criminal and enemy.)

While the idea is interesting and would be good to observe. In world it seems the FISS have greater variety in the second S. So Flight, Invulnerability, Strength. But speed might fall off making some more of a true flying brick than others.

It just occurred to me, but what the Vanguard’s long term plan, anyway? Because if their objective is “not being taken for granted”, it’s not going well. A large number of FISS came where they were needed, without anybody asking them, let alone paying them. It just made them look cheaper. More available.

That’s true, if they prove more reliable than other supers, than they will in fact get more recognition even if they have a common power set. Just because you have a special power doesn’t mean a whole lot if you have twenty FISS heading in your direction, they’re like bees, but way tougher.

It’s worth noting that “FISS” has another phrase usually associated with it in most other fiction: “Winning the super-power lottery.”

Oh, sure, you’re special and unique for having the ability to telepathically control poodles. Objectively, that can even be a threatening and useful power. But that FISS over there is going to beat you 95% of the time and is going to be equipped to handle 85% of other situations (and that’s being conservative).

If I were a real person in that world, the fact that my chances of developing powers in the FISS spectrum are significantly higher than any other power suite would be pleasing to me. (Obviously, ANY power would be nice, provided it’s not one of the “blessed with suck” variety. But still, FISS is one of the BEST power suites out there!)